


a few moments to spare

by starkly



Series: you've been thunderstruck [19]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Regency, M/M, Master/Servant, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:14:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28258266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkly/pseuds/starkly
Summary: Lord Anthony Stark takes a break from his work to visit the stables at his estate--or perhaps more accurately, to visit the groom who cares for the horses there.
Relationships: Tony Stark/Thor
Series: you've been thunderstruck [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2064666
Comments: 1
Kudos: 36





	a few moments to spare

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for NaNoWriMo 2020 and [posted here](https://aleator.tumblr.com/post/635743398050086912) on my tumblr writing blog. This fic was proofread before being uploaded here but is otherwise unchanged.
> 
> Prompts taken from the AU-gust 2020 challenge list on Twitter. Day Nineteen: 19th Century AU.
> 
> I stole half this setup from The Lawrence Browne Affair by Cat Sebastian which I IMPLORE you to read. All her gay regency romance novels are so fun and sweet.

Anthony Stark is an odd one. He may be an earl, but unlike the rest of society, he prefers to spend his time away from Town, instead holing up in his family’s grand country estate. Which would almost be acceptable if he actually kept enough staff on hand to keep it looking as a grand country estate should, and if he ever invited people over or visited others in the countryside.

Instead he spends his days alone, working on all kinds of fantastical inventions. Half of them don’t work and the other half seem completely pointless, so they may as well have been the same thing. Lord Stark doesn’t seem to mind though, never discouraged by his setbacks or failures. He just thinks it all over and starts again.

When Thor first started working at the manor, he agreed that Stark was an odd sort, but that he was ultimately harmless. Thor hailed from the village closest to Stark Manor, as his parents had before him, and everyone generally agreed that Anthony is a better lord than his father was. He doesn’t overtax his tenants and treats what staff he still had working the estate well. There were far worse jobs.

Nowadays, Thor can’t imagine working anywhere else, and not just because he quite likes his job as the main caretaker of the Stark Manor stables.

Stark only keeps four horses and employs only one groom and one stable boy, despite Thor’s repeated suggestions that he ought to hire a coachman as well. Stark always replied that he never went anywhere so what would he need a coachman constantly on hand for, and anyway wasn’t Thor skilled enough to handle the carriage when it was needed?

He was, but that was beside the point.

There isn’t much work to be done today so Thor’s given the stable boy the rest of the day off. The weather is nice and summer is coming soon to an end, so he might as well enjoy it while he can. Thor goes about brushing the four horses and giving them their feed, making sure they’re all still in good health.

He’s so absorbed in his work that he doesn’t even hear the footsteps approaching the stables.

“Hard at work?” Lord Stark asks, and Thor looks up from brushing the pretty bay-colored horse that’s his favorite.

He smiles, surprised to see Stark away from his inventions and out of the house in the middle of the day. “As always, my lord.”

Stark laughs and walks closer, giving Thor a chance to see him better. He normally dresses casually, no jacket over his shirt and waistcoat, his shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows, and today is no exception. Thor was always glad when Stark forwent a tailcoat because it meant a much better view of him in those extraordinarily tight pants. The one good thing about the nobility and the obscene amounts of money they spend is that half that money seems to go into tailoring pants so they’re as form-fitting as possible.

“So hard that you couldn’t spare a few minutes?” Stark asks.

Thor sets aside the brush and makes sure Friday has enough to eat before he exits her stall, meeting Stark halfway.

“I could probably spare just a few,” he replies, grinning, and Stark closes the distance between them to make good use of those minutes.

Thor has to lean down to kiss him, but Stark never seems to mind. He grips Thor’s collar and pulls him down into a hungry kiss, and Thor wraps his arms around Stark’s slim waist, pulling him closer. After a few minutes of heated kissing, Thor expects Stark to let him go and continue on his way. Instead Stark slides a thigh between Thor’s legs and tugs at his shirt so it becomes untucked and he can slide a hand up under it.

The stables aren’t exactly Thor’s first choice for an assignation, but he’ll make do.

Afterwards, when they’re flushed and fully sated, their clothing a mess, Thor laughs and rolls onto his back in the pile of hay, glad he’d cleaned out everything this morning. Stark tries to catch his breath beside him, and Thor doesn’t hesitate to reach out and scoop him up with one arm, drawing him closer to lie down on top of him.

“So what brings you down from your tower, hm?” he asks, basking in Stark’s presence for as long as he can. He assumes Stark had some pressing business he couldn’t ignore anymore and then decided to stop and see Thor when he was finished. “Some new invention not working out?”

Stark props himself up on Thor’s chest, his mussed up hair falling down over his eyes, and Thor reaches up again to brush it back from his face.

“Is this not enough of a reason?” Stark replies, looking puzzled.

Thor stops carding his fingers back through Stark’s hair, resting his hand on his shoulder instead. “You don’t normally venture out,” he reminds him gently. “You’re normally working.”

Stark makes a disgruntled sound. “Well, perhaps I should venture out more.”

Thor knows better than to get his hopes up, but he can’t help being optimistic. “You don’t have to interrupt your work for my sake. I know how important it is to you.”

Stark frowns, like he can’t decide whether he should agree with Thor or not. Finally he settles on, “But maybe I ought to. For you.”

“Oh,” Thor whispers, because that’s as good as a declaration of love from Stark. “Truly?”

Stark nods, and Thor brings up both hands to cup Stark’s face and kiss him thoroughly, not caring if the horses see. They’ve already seen worse.

“I look forward to your interruptions,” Thor murmurs, brushing his thumbs lightly over Stark’s cheekbones and then down over the neat cut of his beard. He’s not sure Stark even realizes facial hair hasn’t been in fashion for the upper class for years now. But that’s just one more thing in a long list of things Thor likes about him.

Stark smiles, tilting his head to kiss one of Thor’s thumbs. “Should I let you get back to work?”

“The horses can wait,” Thor replies without hesitation, not about to give up a moment of this before he has to.

“Good,” Stark says, and kisses Thor again with gusto.


End file.
